The Wrights vs. The Rodriguezes - Family Tensions

Well, they were off to a pleasant start, it seemed. Making all kinds of new friends today. Army was tempted to flip Jessica off right back as she stormed to her corner, but honestly wasn’t in the mood to get in bird flipping war with the purple destroyer. Besides, he had a more pressing concern: Jessica’s brother.

He knew far less about this guy than he did on Jessica, having never seen him wrestle before, but he could pick up a few facts straight away. He looked like everything his sister wasn’t - skinnier, loose, male. He moved fast too, quickly showing he was the fastest on this ring as he hauled ass across the ring. Before Army knew it, this guy was right in his face, flying towards him, and-

”Fuck!” Army exclaimed as he hit his mark, crashing into with a slashing clothesline. It wasn’t enough to drop him, but it hammered into the turnbuckle and left him staggering, coming out of the corner as he clutched his chest.

Also, small note, but this was the first time he’d been hit by another man in what? Two, three years? Not that it made much of a difference, just a funny thought.

James landed on his feet. He was a bit disappointed that he had not gotten Army onto the ground, but he recognized that Army was a big dude, and he was not so big. It was fine. If it was a tag match, it was going to last a long time. And if it was going to last a long time, his endurance could go quite a long way. The aerial ace flowed forward, in the direction of the guy that he had just hammered, eager to follow one successful attack with another.

The footfalls were quiet, but his actions were loud. Once again, James sprang into the air. This time, he did so with even more abandon. He thrust his legs forward and went for a missile dropkick. Army would have very little room to maneuver, and James prayed that the daring assault worked. If the man managed to get out of the way in time, James was in trouble. If the move landed, however, it would be a big boost to their prospects.

Jessica was settled in now, watching the match eagerly. Her eyes were on James, and she quietly cheered him on. She recognized, and loved the move. The Violent Violet herself had done it a thousand times in a thousand matches. It was something that their father had impressed upon them very early in their careers.

Army had initially written James off, thinking that his bigger, more experienced, bitchier sister would be the major problem Team Rodriguez would have to deal with. Now, after being thoroughly rocked by the country boy, he was kind of rethinking that assessment.

He’d managed to keep his feet on the canvas as he stumbled forward, but that wasn’t the easiest task. He needed a moment, just a few seconds to gather his bearings, and he figured he’d made enough space between the two of them to earn it.

Army was wrong, and he learned just how wrong he was when he turned around and saw James barreling at him at ramming speed. ”What-”

He got out a single syllable before the dropkick knocked him off his feet, forcing the wind of his body as he flew into the nearest corner...which just so happened to be theirs. Shit.

He only managed to stay on his feet by leaning against the turnbuckle, stay upright thanks to a grip on the ropes. Still alive, but deep in enemy territory. ”Hey, again.” He grunted Jessica’s way, as he struggled to catch his breath.

Jessica raised an eyebrow. James had barreled into his opponent with devastating effectiveness. He wasn't as beefy as he needed to be for the move to be truly effective, but the sheer speed that he came with made the move at least a little bit solid. She turned to face Army when he said his little spiel, and blinked. "Don't focus on me. At least not right now. You oughta focus on him." Jessica nodded with her head at her older brother. It was nice to distract the dude, but it was the truth. James was in motion, and his motion was aimed straight at Army.

The missile dropkick had brought James to the mat, but he was not going to stay down for long. Not when he had a prime target like Army right in his sights. The aerial ace charged forward once again, but this time he showed that he could use not just his feet. He intended to grab the back of Army's neck.

From there, he would gracefully fall backwards, and send Army up and over him. It was a monkey flip, plain and simple. It would get Army out of the corner. It was time for James to step out of Jessica's shadow.

”Thanks for the tip.”

As much as Army hated to say it, Jessica had a strong point. James was quick, smart, agile and fast, the exact sort of opponent he always had the most trouble with. Only, typically, those problems came from women. James was - as near as Army could see - a man. Maybe that was throwing him off a bit? Sounded like a decent excuse, anyway.

Whatever the case, he was going to have to put end to it, before James ran away with this match and left him in the dust. The dude was already coming in, moving fast, leaping up, and…

Hm. Army had an idea.

When James grabbed him by the back of his head, reached over and grabbed the ropes, holding on tight, anchoring himself to resist the monkey flip. It would leave him hanging there, standing with James right in his face. Damn uncomfortable. He needed to break the ice

So, Army craned his neck back, then jolted it forward and slammed her skull into James’, hittng him with a massive headbutt.

James secured the latch on the back of Army's neck, and pulled. Nothing happened. He pulled again, only to have similar totally null results. He had closed his eyes when he got a hold, and now he opened them. Army was standing there only a foot away from him, totally inert. James pulled back one more time, trying to get him off of the turnbuckle, but it was in vain. The bigger man was not going to budge.

Before he could think of anything else, a cannonball slammed into his head. James flew backwards, onto the mat, clutching his head. The headbutt had made him see stars, and James rolled over on the mat. "Ow," he said to no one in particular.

The crowd howled their approval at what had just happened, and Jessica gripped the ropes more tightly. Whatever was coming next was going to be bad, and she knew it. A monkey flip might have permanently shifted things in their direction, but right now it was up in the air. And Army was looming.

"Get up you huge piece of shit," Jessica shouted as encouragement to her brother.

Army threw back his head after the impact, rubbing the spot of contact. It hadn’t been all roses and daisies for him, either, but since he knew the headbutt was coming, he was able to steel himself for it, endure the blow. He damn sure ended up better off from it than James who was now on the floor, laid out.

”Thanks for the help!” Army gave Jessica a thumbs up and wink as he moved out of the corner, heading towards her brother. Before he could get all the way, though, he heard a clap from the opposite side of the ring.

”Army!” Carmen waved him over and held out her hand. ”Start working him over here!”

”On it, on it.” With one hand still rubbing his head, he reached down, grabbed James by the wrist, and dragged him across the ring, trying to pull him towards their corner. ”Come on, dude, my sister wants to meet you.”

Jessica was swearing to herself. Sure, it was probably not her fault that her brother was a lousy wrestler and that Army made the right move, but Jessica was starting to feel somewhat silly. It was not her fault, she told herself. It never really was, in the grand scheme of things.

But James on the other hand was dealing with fewer mental problems, and a few far more tangible ones. Army seized his wrist as if he were a misbehaving child. James tried to scramble up and avoid being dragged over to the far corner, but Army clearly had him in quite the bind. Jessica had tasted a few blows from Carmen, and they did not look like they were a lot of fun to deal with. James sure as hell did not want to have to encounter one up close and personal.

By the time the aerial ace put together a plan of action, he was already most of the way across the ring. His mad scramble had done little to help his cause, which meant that he felt the impending doom coming. Whatever he was going to do next was mostly in vain, and he recognized that.

But damned if he was not going to do it anyways. James tried to swing around and launch a kick at Army's knee. The side of the knee was his target, but he was sure that if he got anywhere in the area, he was going to wind up in a better position. Or, at the very least, he may stop Army's progress.

Army weighed around 220 pounds and was an inch or two over six feet tall.

James was about four, maybe five inches shorter, and he had to be giving up around fifty pounds, minimum.

Realistically speaking, there were only a few ways this was going to go. James could fight it, he could struggle, he could squirm, but Army had a solid grip, and that wasn’t going to change for moment. Period.

He was close to the end when James decided he was going to make one last ditch effort, kick Army hard in the knee, striking right on the funny bone and making him bite his tongue to keep a scream down. If James was trying to distract him, it worked, because he forgot about Carmen for a moment. Unfortunately, he still had his grip.

”Mother!” He gave brought his boot up and drove it down into James’ chest for a hard stomp. ”Fucker!” And again. Just as hard.

James snuck the kick in. It was a bit of a last ditch effort to get out of the hold, and he tried to scramble away. He was promptly reminded that not only was Army significantly stronger than him, but that his leg had not quite been liberated from this stronger man's grasp. James recognized that his dazzlingly brilliant escape plan had gone awry when Army turned around and accosted him roughly.

Jessica was watching from across the ring. She knew what was coming, but she did not dare look away. Still, it was hard not to cringe a little bit as two hard stomps slammed into James's chest. She slammed her fist against the turnbuckle in frustration, as if that did any good.

For James's part, he was just happy that he was still breathing. His breaths were coming hard and ragged now, and the terrible gasping sound was unmistakable. James felt like his rib cage had just been broken. The aerial ace was pretty content to stop attacking, so that he could focus on staying alive for the next few moments.